BT Bacillus Thuringiensis

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Classification

Domain; Phylum; Class; Order; family [Others may be used. Use NCBI link to find]

Species

Eubacteria (kingdom)

Bacteria (domain)

Firmicutes (phylum)

Bacilli (class)

Bacillales (order)

Bacillaceae (family)

Bacillus (genus); Bacillus cereus group

NCBI: Taxonomy

Genus species

Bacillus Thuringiensis

Habitat Information

Describe the location and conditions under which the organism was isolated.

Latitude: 30.14402 degrees Longitude: -97.78506 degrees

It was a cloudy day high of 58 degrees low of 44 degrees on Jan 30th 2015. A spade and a glass mason jar to collet the soil sample. The soil was collected after digging 1 foot below the surface. The location of the soil sample chosen was in a natural ravine off the end of a gated home property Rainfall was 0.0" and the pressure was 28.53" The location was mostly Lewisville silty clay at 1-2 percent slopes.

Description and Significance

Describe the appearance (colonial and cellular), possible antimicrobial activity etc. of the organism, and why the organism might be significant.

Cellular: gram-positive, forms spores, rod-shape

Colonial morphology: filamentous, raised, undulate, medium, aggressive grower, shiny, smooth, creamy white in color

This organism was placed in a lawn plate of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and it had a zone of inhibition

Genome Structure

BT is a circular chromosome. It has a genome size of between 5.2–5.8 Megabases. The largest known group of BT is the Cry protein. These δ-Endotoxins are frequently expressed in recombinant cotton, potatoes, rice and corn. Bacillus thuringiensis strain ODB63 16S ribosomal RNA gene, partial sequence

PCR sequence: FOREWARD 1 ttccgcatgg acganttctg acggagcacg ccgcgtgagt gatgaaggct ttcgggtcgt 61 aaaactctgt tgttagggaa gaacaagtgc tagttgaata agctggcacc ttgacggtac 121 ctaaccagaa agccacggct aactacgtgc cagcagccgc ggtaatacgt aggtggcaag

PCR sequence: REVERSE 1 gggggtgggc gcgtcctata catgcaagtc gagcgaatgg attgagagct tgctctcaag 61 aagttagcgg cggacgggtg agtaacacgt gggtaacctg cccataagac tgggataact 121 ccgggaaacc ggggctaata ccggataaca ttttgaactg catggttcga aattgaaagg

Cell Structure, Metabolism and Life Cycle

Interesting features of cell structure; how it gains energy; what important molecules it produces.

BT has two phases of life cycle. One phase is the vegetative cell division and sporulation. The vegetative cell division cycle is a simple process of rod shapes dividing into daughter cells, however Sporulation happens in VII stages. There is a uniqueness about the sporulation process that produces crystals as a response of the water loss during the process. It provides the spore with a vegetative state and germination ability and toxic to any insect that tries to ingest it.

BT is a facultative anaerobe, gram-positive, it has a thick cell wall that is comprised of peptidoglycan (amino acid polypeptide and a sugar). A Periplasmic space which is essential for biosynthesis and protection is found between the cell wall and plasma membrane. The facultative anaerobe characteristic aspect of BT is it allows the bacteria to produce ATP by aerobic respiration if oxygen is present however can also use other gases through fermentation or anaerobic respiration.

Physiology and Pathogenesis

Biochemical characteristics, enzymes made, other characteristics that may be used to identify the organism; contributions to environment (if any).
If relevant, how does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms

References

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3035146/

http://www.Pubmed.gov

http://www.bt.ucsd.edu/how_bt_work.html

Author

Page authored by _____, student of Prof. Kristine Hollingsworth at Austin Community College.